Interpersonal guilt, shame, and psychological problems

Recent research has focused on the positive consequences of guilt as oppose d to shame. The present studies investigated the relationship between inter personal guilt related to the fear of harming others, shame, and various me asures of psychological distress and symptoms. The Interpersonal Guilt Ques tionnaire, The Guilt Inventory, the Test of Self-Conscious Affect, the Brie f Symptom Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Coopersmith Sel f-Esteem Inventory were administered to samples of college students. These results suggest that interpersonal guilt, when elevated and linked to patho genic beliefs, may also be associated with psychological problems and indic ate that there may be a down side to guilt.